Car-door lock.



PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903.

IW. FULTON. OAR' DOOR LOOK.

APPLIGATION FILED FEB.20, 1902.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. v

WILLIAM H. FULTON, oF DAVENPORT, IOWA.

CAR-DOOR LOCK;

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,007, date@ March 3, 1903.

Application filed February 20,1902. Serial No. 94,878. (No morlelJ'Y To @ZL wiz/0m t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. FULTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car-Door Locks, of which the following is a specification. p

My invention relates to doors for railwaycars and the like, and has for its object to provide means whereby the door may be conveniently locked in any desired position and whereby it may be locked in such manner that it will be extremely difcult, if not impossible, to unlock it from within the car.

When cars are standing on the side track, it commonly occurs that unauthorized persons-robbers, tramps, and the like-force the door back, so that they can enter the car., They then close the car and stay inside, either to sleep or travel or tobreak-open and examine packages in the car.

One object of this invention is to prevent such intrusion by making it difficult, if not impossible, for the person after he has entered the car to close the door, and of course if the car-door is open it immediately notifies all persons in charge of the train that the cars have been molested.

I have shown one form of my device; but it is to be taken as in a sense only diagrammatic or illustrative, as it is obvious that other forms can be used and great modifications call be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

My invention, in the particular form shown, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Y Figure l is a side View of a car-door, the same being shown partly open. Fig. 2 is a detail of the dog-block. Fig. 3 is a section of the same. Fig. t is a detail showing the dogs. tion of the racks.

Like parts are indicated by the same letter in all the-figures. V'

A is the body of the ear; B B, the door-casing or frame; C, the sill, and D the door. I have shown a plain door without the ordinary locking or door-suspending devices; but it will be understood that the door is adapted to slide in the doorway in the usual manner.

E is what I have called a dog-block, con- Fig. 5 is an enlarged side view of a por- Y sisting of the sideplate E and the-bottom plate E2. The latter is adapted to be secured to the bottom of thedoor by means of screws, which may pass through the holes E3, and the side plate is secured on the front portion of the door, as indicated in Fig. I, by screws passing. through the holes E4. Of course these parts may be greatly varied in shape without departing from the spirit of my invention.

F is an aperture in the bottom ofthe bottom plate, and onrone side of it is the upwardly-projecting lug G. Through thislug and through a hole in the plate E' passes a bolt J, on which are hung the two dogs K K', faced in opposite directions. Beneath these dogs and located on the sill of the doorway is the double rack L L. The dogs K K are placedside by side and one runs on one portion of the rack and the other on another portion of the rack. These dogs may be made as shown in Fig. l or in any other desired shape. The racks may be uniform and the dogs made to fit them, or they may be cut off, as indicated in Fig. 5, one set being cut away on one side and the other on the other side, so as to adapt each to one dog.

M M are projections which tend to keep the car-door in line; but of course any desired means of securing it in its track may be provided.

As previously suggested, the dierent devices described may be greatly varied without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not wish to be limited to the particular forms and arrangements of parts shown.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: When a car-door is to be moved in its track, it is only necessary for a person standing on the outside of the car to lift up that one of' the dogs which would otherwise prevent the motion ofthe car-door. This he may .easily do by sticking a knife-edge or scrap of wood or metal under or in some. cases by reaching under the edge of the door with his finger. The iioor of the -caris of course a little higher than the bottom of the door, and therefore thisoperation cannot be performed from within' the car. AThere are two dogs working in opposite directions, both arresting the movement of the door, and therefore when both are in working condition the door is held securely and fixedly in whatever IOO position it may have assumed. 1f, therefore, any one opens the door from without in the manner indicated, it is clear that when he gets into the car it will be impossible for him to close the same, and therefore the car-door will remain open. This open door can be seen and can even be seen by the trainmen as the cars pass around curves, and thus the fact that some one is in the car can be easily determined.

It is often desirable to have the doors of the cars held xedly in some predetermined position, and this device accomplishes this result. In a rapidly-moving train and in going around curves and up grades and under other conditions the doors are likely to open if not locked, and often they are left unlocked. This device will prevent their opening. On the other hand, it is sometimes desirable to keep the doors partially open while the train is moving, and this device accomplishes this result. Without it the doors would be likely to close under certain conditions. This device also renders the cars undesirable for tramps who may wish to sleep in them when the cars are on the side track or in the yards,

for not being able to close the door it is left open, and the car is therefore left cold and disagreeable.

I claim- 1. The combination of a car-door with a plate having two sections at right angles to each other, one secured to the side of the door and the other to the bottom of the door, two oppositelyfaced separate dogs pivoted in such bottom plate beneath the door and a rack device beneath the door to receive said dogs, said rack device placed on the outside of the car and below the floor.

2. The combination of a car-door with two oppositely-working dogs and a rack consisting of two oppositely-faced portions, one for one dog and one for the other, the parts arranged so that the door is automatically locked in any desired position from motion in either direction, such working dogs placed so far from the car-door opening as to be inaccessible from within the car.

WILLIAM H. FULTON.

Witnesses:

FANNY B. FAY, IIOMER L. KRAFT. 

